By: Roy Lomax

Roy Lomax — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 04:49:34 +0000

I made my first trip as a “brassie” on the Red Falcon; my memory isn’t too clear, but I remember that the destination was the White Sea. I recall that we took on ice at a place called Harstad in Norway.
The only names that I can recall are the skipper (Brunton) and radio operator (Cooper). The name that I should recall above all others is that of the Mate, he saved my life.
One night as we were shooting the net, I was unknowingly standing inside the head rope (or headline I think it was called), when a body launched at me and sent me crashing into the side of the bridge, it was the Mate; but for his actions I would have been dragged over the side and drowned.
The next trip was to Iceland and the skipper didn’t go, but the mate replaced him as skipper (I’m sure that I was told that he was the skipper’s son in law).
The Iceland trip was my last one on the Red Falcon; I then went on a different tack.
God Bless all those lost at sea.

By: Doris Westhead nee Fairclough

Doris Westhead nee Fairclough — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 16:16:02 +0000

I remember the loss of the trawlers very well as my friends husbands were on two of them also a prawner was lost around the same time with the crew. My own father was lost on a trawler in 1935 on Bempton cliffs, Scarborough, all hands were lost,and 13 children lost their fathers, his name was Thomas Fairclough from Fleetwood, at one time his parents owned a couple of trawlers in Fleetwood.

Comments on: When Fleetwood trawlers queued to come home – the bond between a town and its industry

By: Roy Lomax

By: Doris Westhead nee Fairclough